I bought a laptop with a desktop processor that does not clock itself down while running on the battery. Are there any software utilities I can use to manually clock down my processor to improve battery life? Any other utilites that can help me manage my power consumption?

There are "Mobile" processors specifically meant for this, such as the Pentium 4 Mobile, or the Intel Centrino. My laptop processor automatically underclocks from 2 GHz to 1.2 on battery power. This processor is very much like regular Pentium 4s on AC power, while the Centrinos aredesigned completely differently from tehir desktop counterparts. When buying a laptop, if the processor is any sort of "mobile" version, that usually indicates underclockability (strange word ...is it real?)